Teleshell
by thehonestlies
Summary: Both Arthur and Alfred find half of a shell an ocean apart from each other. This shell is special and they talk to each other and solve the mysteries inside. They might get more than they bargained for. USUK PruCan HRExChibitalia
1. Chapter 1

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I was walking down the shoreline, on vacation from my job. I worked at a resturaunt in New York. Finally, I had saved up enough money to travel to the beach. Waves washed up against my legs as the sun began to rise. I was never up this early, but for some reason I couldn't sleep. I was kind of dazed out looking at the reds and oranges of the sky when I tripped over something. Thanks to the hero like reflexes, I didn't fall. Examining the ground where I nearly fell, I saw something.

A big shell was sticking half way out of the sand, glowing in the new sunlight. Something drew me to it as I reached down and lifted. The shell was light in my hands, smooth except for one side. It was jagged as if it had been snapped in two. It was supposed to be good luck to bring a shell from the ocean home wasn't it? This one seemed cool enough for me, the hero, to use.

Back in my hotel room, I further examined my shell. It was mainly orange with strange little specs on it. It almost didn't look real. It ddin't feel like plastic though, so maybe and underwater hero painted it to send me a message. Deciding this was the case, I put my ear up to the shell, only to hear music. No light music either, but hard rock. I was pretty sure I heard something about frogs and burnt scones. Maybe I needed to let it know that I was ready for the super mysterious hero messsage.

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**With Arthur**

I had been having tea when the package arrived. It had been from my uncle, a crazy old man who lived in the mountains. He tried to teaach me black magic once, but I always messed up on the spells and curses. I opened the package to find a broken shell. I think that it was broken, anyway. The edge was jagged, not matching with the other smooth sides. It was orange with odd spots on it. I placed it on my shelf with all the other strange gifts I received from him.

Soon the scones I was preparing were done. They were crisp and golden brown(black), just the way I like them. My enjoyment was cut short, however, when a certain Frenchman walked in.

"Bonjour, Arthur." He crinkled his nose up and shook his head, blond shoulder length hair bouncing about. "What is that smell, Arthur? Did you make," He paused, for dramatic effect "scones again?" Francis shuddered. I was very annoyed with his backhanded insult towards my cooking.

"Get out you bloody frog" I seethed. I was irritated that the dumb frog was in my house, then he insulted my cooking. I continued to scream his way making all kinds of insults and swearing over and over again.

Then we both looked across the room, to the shell, as something strange was going on. Someone, or something, was talking out of it. " Yo, Mr. Aquaheroman, this is your land counterpart, Alfred F. Jones, speaking. I am prepared for any job you have for me, because I'm the HERO!" Francis and I exchanged looks before I picked up  
the shell.

"Um, hello, Alfred F. Jones, I don't know what kind of hero you think I am, but I don't believe that I am who you are looking for." Francis sent me a confused look, before I continued. "By the way, are you, perhaps, talking into a shell right now, and orange one, with blue dots?" I was sent this shell by my uncle, it could be some kind of magic communication shell or something.

"Aww, so you aren't some sort of aqua superhero who could tald to fish and stuff. You also didn't send me this shell because you couldn't be on land long enough to do some kind of superhero mission. Who are you, then?"He seemed really disappointed, like he actually believed whatever dumb theory he was spewing. Alfred F. Jones. judging by the accent, was American so it wouldn't surprise me if he was that dumb. I decided to answer him anyway. I probably would need his help to figure this out.

"I'm Arthur Kirkland." I responded calm and cool. "There is no such thing as superheroes, but I need to-" I was cut off by a horrible screech.

" What? Artie, you don't believe in superheroes. How is that even possible? Who else would save the world from evil?" This man was aggravatingly stupid.

"My name is Arthur, not Artie. Now I need to know, badly, are you speaking through a seashell?" I stressed each word so that it might get through his thick skull. There was a gasp on the other end. I thought this Alfred guy finally caught on.

"I get it. You're just trying to protect your secret identity by pretending superheroes don't exist. That's really smart, but don't worry about it because your secret is safe with me." Of course he didn't understand. But then, "Hey, Artie, this is gonna sound weird, but, uh, are you talking into a seashelll?"

I shouted at the top of my lungs,"Yes, you bloody git. I have been asking you that for 10 bloody minutes. You are worse than the frog!" Said frog lifted an eyebrow and chuckled to himself in his spot acrsoss the room.

"You have?" Alfred seemed genuinely confused." And why are you talking about frogs? I am a person. Why do you think we can talk into shells anyway?" I sighed.

"That is precisely what I am trying to figure out. My best guess is that there is some kind of communication spell on it."

"You mean" he paused"its like a teleshell." He sounded astonished, like he had solved all the deep mysteries of lilfe.

"A what?"

"A teleshell, you know, a telephone mixed with a seashell. I thought it was clever, because I'm the hero."

**And now the first chapter of my fic is completed. This is my first multichapter fic and the plot bunny attacked me when I was watching a commercial for Myrtle Beach. Weird right? I would like totally love it if you would review. It would be totally epic and Kumajiro will ask who you are. Wouldn't that be amazing?**


	2. Chapter 2

This chapter takes place on the next day, starting with Alfred on his way back from vacation. He is off for his first day back though.

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I couldn't wait to be home. I had been driving for a few long hours to get there. The vacation had been nice, especially with that shell and Arthur. I just really liked being at home, and I hadn't ever been away from my brother, Matthew, this long. He's Canadian. It is almost as cool as being American.

I heard the radio in my car turn on. "Oh my God. There is a ghost in my car! My car is haunted! Someone help me!" I shouted, but I wasn't scared because I am the hero. Next to me, my brother Matthew suddenly appeared. He shook his head, sighing.

"Geez, Al, you're so loud. Your car isn't haunted. I turned on the radio. You are so stupid sometimes." He was clutching onto his trademark bear, arms wrapped around it tight. He was a couple years younger than me, but still too old for a dumb stuffed bear.

"Have you been here the whole time, Mattie?" I didn't remember him coming with me. Usually, I was the only one who remembered Matthew, but everyone has their off days. He shook his head.

"I went on vacation to the beach with you, Alfred. I thought maybe you could remember that. You're my brother for pete's sake." He put his head back and sunk into his chair. Soon, the car ride had him asleep.

Some noise came from out of the shell that was residing in the backseat of my car."I heard shouting. What's going on?" Arthurs's voice rang out through the car. If I could find the atmosphere book, it might tell me what that tone in the back of his voice meant.

"Its nothing," I responded back through, "I just thought my car was haunted."

"Oh." He sounded surprised. "You know that you are an idiot, right?" He kept insulting my intelligence, but I ignored him listening to the radio instead. Next to me, Matthew started to wake up.

"Shh. Arthur, be quiet." I didn't ever keep a secret from my brother before, but I don't think he would take well to this. He didn't stop talking though. "My brother will hear you. Shut up, Artie."

He got ticked off at my nickname for him, and shouted "My name is Arthur, not Artie or anything else you had in mind." It was too late. Now, Matt was up and freaking out.

"Holy maple surup, Alfred, what was that voice?" He was sitting straight up now, eyes searching everywhere for the source of Artie's voice.

"Okay, Matt, you asked so I'lll tell you the whole story. On the vacation that we were just on, I was walking along the beach, when I tripped over something. When I looked I found this shell. Its supposed to be good luck or whatever to take a shell home, and I figured this one was good enough. Since it was colored funny, I thought some kind of underwater hero sent it to me, and I listened for his message. Only, I didn't hear some sort of top secret message, I heard this guy yelling about frogs. We found out that the shell has some sort of magic thing that made it into a teleshell. The end." I finished proudly. I was the hero after all.

"Yes, the same thing kind of happended to me." Artie added. "Except for my crazy uncle sent me the shell, and I got to hear this idiot talking about heroes and such."

Matthew's eyes widened and he sat back again. "So my brother finds a magic shell, and now I am having a conversation with someone I've never met. I'm not using a phone, either. I am talking to someone through a freaking magic shell." If Matthew could talk loud enough, I'm sure he would be shouting right now. Something must have made him mad.

Artie said that we needed to sort this out without him listening through the shell and told us he was going to leave his house. That seemed okay. We couldn't possibly need him for anything. If we did, I had his cell number. Artie said it would look weird if we constantly carried shells around. When we were around the shells we would use those.

Soon, Matt and I were back home and unpacking our stuff. we proceeded to put in a scary movie, which I could totally handle, because I'm the hero. Apparently, Arthur came back to his house during the movie because he was freaking out.

"What is all that yelling? Are you two alright?" He actually remembered Matthew. Most people would have only asked about me. "Answer me. What is all the yelling?"

Surprisingly, Matthew responded. "Don't worry about it. My stupid brother just put in a movie he couldn't handle. It isn't anything to get so freaked out over. Next time, I'll cover up the shell, so you aren't disturbed." Matthew never talked to anybody. Now, he was talking to Arthur, insulting my heroness, using my shell.

"Shut up, Matthew." I never told my brother to shut up, but I couldn't have Arthur thinking I was a coward. I was a hero, not some scaredy cat. No one was allowed to think otherwise.

"Arthur, are there two voices coming out of your shell now? You should probably say something to your whack job uncle." I recognized that voice from the yelling yesterday. Maybe he was the talking frog. There was a thud followed by a should from the same voice that just spoke. I couldn't understand what he said though.

Apparently Matt did because he laughed and responded in the same gibberish as the other guy. There were two shocked noises from the other side.

"You speak frog!" Arthur was shouting. He sounded upset.

"I can't believe it. The cute voice can speak French. I am Francis Bonnefoy, and I believe we now have a inside joke." There was some kind of strange laugh too 'onhonhon' or something like that.

"I'm Matthew Williams." Matthew seemed immediatly at ease now. There was something about that Francis guy though. I couldn't help but feel he was a raging pervert who thought my little brother was cute. I didn't want him to even think about talking to my brother.

"Wait," said Artie, thoughtful "if you two are brothers, how do you have different last names?" Matthew and I got that question a lot. It was growing to be a pain to answer, so instead I switched topics.

"How did you know we were brothers?" It was kind of strange, that he knew that without me telling him. "Are you psychic? Dude, I got it, your superpower is like telepathy or something and you are using this shell to keep me from finding out!" I finally figured it out. I can't believe it took me that long.

"Again with the superpowers. Alfred, if the shell was only a trick, how could Mathew and the frog use it? I don't have any superpowers. I only knew that Matthew was your brother because you have both said it. If you don't want to tell me why your names are different, then don't." I didn't need the atmosphere book to tell something was wrong.

"Sorry, Artie. I didn't mean to make you so mad. Its just, you don't belive in heroes even when you're talking to one. I got excited when I thought you were only pretending not to believe. Please calm down. Plus, I don't remember saying that Mattiew was my brother." There was a sigh and a mumbled apology for getting so worked up. Francis and Matthew had exchanged nnumbers and were texting back and forth.

"Arthur, I have to go. I know just the perfect person for Mattie to meet over your shell." Francis then left the conversation. At least he wasn't interested in my brother, but I was worried about who he thought might be.

"Don't you dare bring that guy inside my house!" Apparently Arthur was too.

Arthur said that at his house in England it was getting pretty late and he was going to bed. I was tired too, from the long drive. We said our goodbyes and left the shells. Matthew went to his room to continue his conversation with Francis, who appparently was gonna get the maple kicked out of him if he didn't spill who he wanted Matthew to meet.

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**wow second chapter done. I'm so excited. Next chapter I introduce the rest of the bad touch trio and the Italy brothers and Germany too. The wheels are spinning. I have the next few chapters planned out so updates should be fast. I proof read this like four times so hopefully there aren't many typos.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Warning-There is some light Romano-I mean swearing- in this chapter. And I mean super light, like one swear word light.**

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Arthur's POV

The day was going wonderfully. Francis had been off doing something with his dumb friends. Alfred was still sleeping. That meant plenty of peace and quiet for me. Well it did, until I got a text from Alfred. So much for my chances of having a relaxing day. I checked the screen for any possible message he could have had.

**From: Alfred**

**Yoooo Man! this b the hero i just want 2 let u no that i will b work+ the shell will b with Mattie cuz he haz noooo skool 2day**

All of that cruddy grammar had given me a headache from trying to figure out the meaning. I typed up a quick reply.

**From:Arthur**

**Alfred, there is this lovely language called English. It might do you some good to learn it. It doesn't matter to me if you have to work today, because I wasn't going to start up a conversation with you. I thought Matthew was older than you, and why was he off school today?**

So much for a quick reply. That was more like a bloody paragraph. I genuinely believed Matthew was the older brother. As it turns out though, he had to be at least a few years younger. At least my quiet time would be guranteed until Alfred was off work.

**From: Alfred**

**maaaan this is txting propr english is stupid sides Matt is younger than me by 4 yrs and he is off cuz it is Turkey Day i only hav 2 wrk cuz my booss is a biiiiig dummy**

**From: Arthur**

**... and you felt you had to tell me your whereabouts because? Seriously, Alfred, why would I care? **

**From:Alfred**

**awww... im hurt D= gtg work txt u wen i git off byeeeee!**

Our conversation was ended by Alfred arriving at work. My day was relatively quiet again. Despite Alfred's bad language, he was pretty fun to talk to. All the random things he said made it easy to keep talking. It wasn't like with the frog, though, who said things just to get on my nerves. Oh speak of the devil. There was a rap on my door.

"Arthur, open up" the French accent rang through my halls. I didn't want to deal with this. On the other side of my door was the entire bad touch trio. Even the name was annoying. "Open up the door, Arthur, or I will." The door knob turned and my door had found itself wide open with four people behind it. the dumb one, Antonio, had brought his boyfriend. Wonderful.

"Alfred isn't around, Francis, come back some other time." I knew he hadn't wanted to talk to Alfred, but I had to try. It didn't work. Francis shook his head.

"No. I wanted to speak with Matthew. I know he is by the shell. He said so before I collected Gilbert and Antonio."

"And Lovi~" Antonio piped in. Said Lovi turned bright red. He started pounding on the Spaniard.

"Shut up, Tomato Bastard. It was bad enough you brought me here with the pervert and the beer bastard. I'm only still here because you won't let go of me." It was obvious Lovi cared for Antonio, but the odds of him ever saying so were small. He pretended to hate that dummy which actually never worked, because Antonio was too dumb to realize it is hateful behavior.

"You aren't going to use my shell, frog. If that was what you wanted then you can get out." I was starting to get the painful head ache that I usually got when dealing with those four. The frog scrunched up his face and frowned. He seemed pretty excited to force Matthew into a relationship with Gilbert. Gilbert seemed pretty excited himself.

"I don't want to talk to Alfred. We wanted to talk to Matthew." He made his stating the obvious face. His albino friend's face lit up.

"Ha. His name is Matthew. I told you that the totally awesome me would figure out his name. I could because you are unawesome and I am the embodiment of it." He switched tones, and looked my way. " Arthur, where is your awesome shell." Now he was using that word to describe my shell. He was not going to leave until he talked to Matthew, poor , poor Matthew.

"I heard my name. What's going on over there?" Matthew's quiet voice rang through my house. "and how many of you are there? I count five voices." How long had Matt been sitting by the shell? Antonio and Lovi had been too involved with each other to say anything for about ten minutes. He had to have heard everything.

"Onhonhon" Francis piped in. "You are an excellent voice counter. How long were you sitting there, though, because two of us have been too busy with each other to acknowledge the rest of us, if you know what I mean." I shuddered glancing to the corner of my room where Antonio was trying to hug Lovino, who was attempting to push away the former.

"I've been sitting by the shell since this morning. With my brother not home, it is too quiet and boring. I was hoping to get some entertainment so I took the shell." So now Matthew was using me as a source of entertainment. "And, Arthur, you talk really loud when you text." Had I been reading those out loud. I did have a habit, wait did I say anything bad? As I scanned the texts that got sent in my head, Francis was introducing Matthew and Gilbert.

"Forget about Arthur's goofy texting voice. You have to talk to Gilbert."

"Not just Gilbert, Francis. I am the awesome Gilbert Beilschmidt."

"I'm Matthew Williams. It's awesome to meet you the awesome Gilbert Beilschmidt." I couldn't tell if Matthew was mocking Gilbert or if he seriously thought it was cool to talk to someone that was obsessed with themselves. Judging by his reactions to his brother, I think that he wasn't noticed very often. Maybe he was happy just to be talking to anybody. He did seem to warm up to me and Francis a little too easily.

"It sure is man." Gilbert smiled his signature look. If Matthew could use the shell like a window, I bet he would laugh. The albino was grinning and his sharp red eyes appeared playful and bright. I listened as they bantered and talked. Francis had actually done something right in his many times matchmaking. His girlfriend, Elizabeta, must have helped him. That girl is so obsessed with boy love, I don't think she would care if he cheated on her as long as it was with a man. With another girl though, he might want to run.

My thoughts were interupted by a buzz in my pocket. I pulled out my phone to see Alfred had texted me and that it had been hours. Gilbert and Francis were still in my house talking with Matthew. I had no idea where Antonio and Lovino went.

"You're awake now. That's good you've been out for a few hours." So I fell asleep. That meant the other two probably went home. I was confused as to how much of what I remembered was real. Gilbert hadn't so much as looked at me, because he was in such heated conversation with Matthew, so that had to be real. I must have dreamt the part about Elizabeta, because she would be all over Matthew and Gilbert. Either way, I opened up the text that Alfred had sent me.

**From: Alfred**

**hey man i just got off work+ ill b my house soon wanna use the shell**

**From: Arthur**

**Good Luck getting to the shell. I know I won't be able to. Your brother is talking to one of Francis' friends.**

**From: Alfred**

**the one he wanted 2 introduce him 2? wat is he liek? he wont hurt my Mattie rite?**

**From: Arthur**

**No, calm down. He seems to really like Matthew. I've never seen him talk like that to anyone, except his own little brother, who he is very protective over.**

**From: Alfred**

**kool, he sounds good enuf anywayz subject change did u find anything new on how the shell worx**

**From: Arthur**

**I sent my uncle a letter. He knows about that kind of stuff more than I do. I have to go though. Good luck seperating your brother from the shell.**

I didn't really have to go, but I was exhausted, and I still had to drag Gilbert away from the shell. Then, I had to kick both of them out of my house. I had two difficult jobs ahead of me so distractions would be bad.

**From Alfred:**

**alrite dude txt u l8er plus Mattie mite b makin pancakes 4 Thanksgiving *happy dance***

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**AN- I know this chapter didn't have much fluff and it took forever to update. I promise fluff next chapter, which will cover Alfred's day at work. I think I might also get to the HRE and Chibitalia part. Yaay. I need a name for HRE though because I don't know it.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Chapter 4 is up. I am sorry that it took so long. I have had it written for three days, but it was a matter of actually typing it up. That and I have two concerts this week, marching band started up, finals and Highschool placement tests. Bleh. I hate busy weeks.**

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Alfred's POV

I woke up long before I had to for work. Usually I was running out the door at the last minute. Matthew wasn't even up yet. I got up before Matt one day a year, and that was Christmas, but today was Thanksgiving. The resturaunt I worked at was going to be really busy, and I wasn't looking forward to it. If only I had the week off like Matt did.

Wasting no time, I began to get ready. Maybe when Matt got up I could scare him by being ready. He would totally freak out. He would be all, "Oh Maple, Alfred, why are you up so early. Since you are though, I will make you some pancakes to eat before you have to go to work." Just the thought was making me drool with anticipation.

I grabbed my work uniform from the closet and quickly got dressed. The workshirt was decorated with the flag of Greece in the front and Japan in the back. It matched the homelands of the co-owners, Kiku and Heracles. I had no idea how a multicultural returaunt like that could have money, but it wasn't a bad job so I didn't really care.

Footsteps from behind me were followed by Matt's quiet voice. "You're up early today, Alfred." He wasn't as shocked as I hoped he would be. Actually, he seemed really sluggish. Matthew was usually a morning person, so it was alarming to see him looking so tired. Then, I remembered last night with him talking to Francis. He must have stayed up really late talking. It wasn't a school night though so it didn't matter.

"Mornin', Mattie." I pretended not to hear him say that I was up early. I was the hero, and sometimes heroes got up on time to go to work. I watched him get some ice water and pull out ingredients for pancakes. Matt was the best pancake maker ever. He mixed up the batter dutifully. It was better for me to be quiet because Matthew was only scary at two times, when he was playing hockey and when he was making pancakes. It would be seriously dangerous to bother him right now, so I didn't. I just kept getting ready while he made some edible heaven.

Soon enough, the pancakes were ready. We both stacked our plates high and drowned them with maple syrup. I had to eat really fast because now I was running late. Still on the way I managed to text Arthur (AN refer to first converstation of chapter 3) and let him know what was going on. It would be bad if he tried to call me while I was working. He might wake up Heracles. That would be scary. He was a calmer, more talented chef when he was sleeping. He also tended to realize he was cooking with his arch nemesis, Sadiq, when he woke up. Then, Kiku and I would have to evacuate the building to save the day.

Upon arriving at work I clocked in and grabbed my tickets. It was Thandsgiving, so I expected lots of big groups to come in. When the first crowds made their way inside, I found myself wishing more and more that this place was closed for the day. I spent my entire shift bustling about working more than my share of tables, because my partner, Ivan, had conviently gotten sick. Communist bastard. Actually, busy as I was, I felt kind of bad for him. His sister was probably trying to get him to marry her again. She was really scary, but not to me of course because I'm the hero.

The day went by fast, and I couldn't wait to be home. I called Matt, but he didn't answer. It caused me to freak out slightly and sprint most the way to my house. Then I realized he was probably just sleeping or something and calmed down. I started texting Arthur (AN second conversation from last chapter.) and found out that he was talking to one of the French guy's friends. Apparently, he was a self proclaimed Prussian with a little brother that he raised. Since he was a brother too, he would understand if I had to kill him for hurting Matthew.

"Kesesesese sorry birdie I have to go, but I will text you later. I really have to go though because the unawsome Arthur might kill me if I don't get out of his house. Then what would you do?" The voice coming out of the shell was confident and brash. Hopefully some of that wore off on Mattie. People would certainly notice him if he talked a little more like that.

"Alright. I'll talk to you soon, Gil." I think that it was wearing off on him already. I had been trying to do that for years. Whoever that guy was, he was a miracle worker. Mattie was talking louder and speaking more. Too bad Arthur was kicking him out of his house. He did say he was tired though. I decided to alert Matt of my presence.

"Hey, Matthew" He looked up at me and grinned.

"Hi, Alfred. How was work? I started a ham for Thanksgiving." So my suspicions were right. Matthew did get confused. Man I really wanted some good turkey. I could make Matthew do it backwards and have turkey for Christmas. It should be all right. I followed Matt as he went to the kitchen and pulled out a small ham. There were some potatoes on the stovetop and stuffing too. Everything was right, except for the whole no turkey thing.

"You goofy Canadian, ham is for Christmas. What is up with that?" I used a really light tone and usually Matt would get defensive over Canada, his homeland. This time he didn't. He shrugged.

"You Americans eat so much that I couldn't keep it straight. Sorry." Oh it was on now. I almost thought he was serious for a second, but then he started laughing.

"We do eat more than maple syrup. I remember when you came here all like' what is all that'. Maybe you still haven't learned what food is what yet."

"At least Canada has water that hasn't been contaminated."

"Hey! You rode on the American Dream. Is there a Canadian Dream? I didn't think so."

"Canada is bigger."

"Quality over quantity baby!"

"Ooh we win both ways."

"Shut up, you annoying little leaf." I called him that based off the flag that was always on his person. Why a leaf anyway? Stars were way better. Everyone know that.

"Whatever you say, stripes." He stole my tactic. That was not heroic of him to do. It was also my last straw. I reached over and mercilessly began tickling him. He laughed like he hadn't since I graduated highschool, since the bullies hit him full on. His pleas for me to stop only made me do it more. I treasured these brotherly moments ever since he came to America.

When my mom was pregnant with Matthew, my parents argued a lot. All the time they were fighting and nagging at each other. When Matt was born my mom gave up on us and left with him to Canada. Nine years later, when I was thirteen, my dad and I got a call that my mom was dead. With no one closer, Matt came to America to live with us. We were immediatly inseperable, and we did everything together. I was in the stands for every hockey game, as he was for my football stuff. My senior year our dad died and I fought hard to stay with Matthew. We were allowed to stay together and now, while he finished high school I was his supplier. I was responsible for keeping a roof over his head and food in his belly.

Over dinner we talked about random stuff, ranging from a story he heard on the radio to a weird hat a customer was wearing. When I asked about how his conversation was with everyone on the other side, his eyes lit up. He told me about Gilbert and how he listened and how Lovi and Antonio were a match made in heaven. He told me that Francis was like some long lost cousin or something. Matthew had finally make friends. I was happy for him, but I had this really weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. Plus, it would do him some good to have some friends not on the other side of the Atlantic. It is a pretty big ocean.

Time skip to Alfred's Dream

I examined the world around me. The sky was a dismal gray with no light. The ground beneath me was black. There were no hills or plants. It was all flat, neverending black. There was no color, no light, no life. Then I saw someone. They were small and fast, so I didn't get a good look. Then, he came back out. He was short with blond hair, hidden behind a black cap. He also had bright blue eyes, like the sea I had recently visited.

"I'm Romanche (AN- thank you Tabby-tan for the awesome name.)" He let his voice out the timid nature of his actions, his voice was strong behind the tentativeness. It was as if he had practiced. "Are you" he looked up at me with fierce yet hopeful eyes "the person who can help me?" This person, Romanche, was in need of a hero. I was a hero, so he came to the right person.

"Yeah, I'm the hero. What would I need to do to help out?" I figured I would need to get us both out of here, but I didn't know how. Maybe this kid had been here long enough to know how.

"My friend. I can't find her. We were split apart when the land cracked. I don't think that she is in this portion."

"Wait. The land are you talking about? Do you mean like an earthquake or something? I don't really know what you're talking about."

"You don't know about the splitting of the land how-" His voice was cut off abruptly. All that was left was some sort of vibrating noise. Bzzz. Bzzz. Bzzz. Slowly, I opened up my eyes and wasn't met with the gray dark world I was just in. Sorrounding me was my American Flag blanket and pillow along with my matching walls. On my bedside, my phone was blinking the sign of a message from Arthur.

**From: Arthur**

**Hey, Alfred. This is an emergency. Please call me as soon as you get up. I know that you are on America time. I also know that it is 4 in the morning at your house, but please call! Soon.**

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I am so sorry that this took so long. Iggy put up a brick wall so I couldn't write him and I had tests all week for the end of the school year. I will most likely get up the rest of the story much faster, as it only has a few chapters left. Enjoy.**

**Arthur POV**

I wasn't expecting a response from Alfred to come this fast. Alfred had gotten back to me in three minutes flat. Either I woke him up or he just had the same weird dream that I did, or both. A little kid had asked me to help him find his friend. He was wearing a dress, though whoever had given it to him had to have been a little odd. The child was obviously a boy. Veneciano, the boy in the dress looked a lot like Feliciano though. That was all I could think of when I had been seeing him. Veneciano said something about the land splitting and magic coating the world in all the flowers and life that sorrounded us. I was beginning to think that the weird dream I had was in connection to the shattered shell. I glanced at the message I had received from a sleepy Alfred.

**From: Alfred**

**yo man wat do u need so early n r u alrite u woke me up from a weird dream with sum1 nmed romanche or sumthin the world broke and he was lookin 4 his frend**

That was shocking. Alfred just had the same dream as me. It did have to do with the shell. My crazy uncle probably knew this would happen. That's why he sent me the shell. How could I get Veneciano and Romanche back together again? This would take magic. I also had the feeling that I would soon be seeing the sights in America.

**From: Arthur**

**I am sorry that I woke you up. I was freaked out because I had that same dream as you. Only I didn't talk to Romanche, I spoke with a kid named Veneciano and I think we need to put the shell together. Text me later, when you have gotten some sleep.**

Hopefully, Alfred could get back to sleep after I woke him up like that. I know Americans are touchy about their sleep. I would feel terrible if he got up earlier than he had to be for his job. It was supposedly a hard job. He worked a long shift yesterday and probably worked again today.

**From: Alfred**

**its no biggie i was havin a freaky dream neway ya know Mattie will b up soon 2 how r we gonna put the shell 2gether we r kinda across the ocean from eachother**

**From: Arthur**

**I could go to America. This is really important. What kind of hero would you be if you ignored a request for help? Every hero I've heard of does any job, no matter the difficulty. **

**From: Alfred**

**u would come 2 AMERICA! we can work this out and put the shell 2gether liek a puzzle this will b sooooooo fun then ill b the hero and u could be my sidekick thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis iiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssss sssssssssooooooooooooo cccccccooooooooollllllllllll**

**From: Arthur**

**Then its settled. I will come to America with the shell, soon. You should try and get some sleep so that you aren't completely exhausted today. **

When I didn't get a response I know Alfred had listened to me and went to sleep. I trekked to my room, grabbing the suitcase from the hall as I went. I had hoped to pack and hide the suitcase before Francis barged into my house. Otherwise, I would be taking two people with me to America with me.

Too late. A sharp knock on the door was followed by Francis letting himself in. He walked straight to my room and saw the suitcase. "You wouldn't happen to be traveling to America would you, Arthur?I know someone who will kill us both if we don't take him." Francis said 'we', he said if _we _don't take him. There went my solo journey to was going to tell Gilbert as well. At the rate this was going, I would have to take everyone to America with me. I scowled at just the thought of it.

"I see that you invited yourself, frog. Who said you were coming?" He placed his hands up to his face in false despair. He busted out his puppy dog eyes with it. "Stop it, frog. The dog face doesnt work on me." He then shifted his expression to a sly smile, a change in tactics.

"I could always tell Elizabeta about your obsession with all things Alfred." I wasn't obsessed with Alfred. I didn't even care about him besides needing his help with fixing the shell. So what if I wrote his name repeatedly on everything. That didn't mean anything and neither did the fact that I started reading comic books. It had nothing to do with Alfred. I just liked that crappy literature. Who came up with that stuff though? It was horrible. Elizabeta wouldn't believe any of that though. I had heard how she'd reacted to Gilbert. There were photos and hugs and she said she needed pictures. That was not my desired fate.

I sighed in defeat. "I guess you can come, you slimy cheating frog." Francis smirked and I regretted the words as soon as they were uttered. That frog would want to take Gilbert. I thought about the annoying albino. He had recently become obsessed with Alfred's brother, whatever his name was. He even painted a maple leaf on his bird claiming that it was Canadian but trapped in Europe, like that guy was trapped in America.

"Oh, I already knew that I was going. It was really the matter of Gilbert that I was slightly worried about. He is going to swim across the ocean if you don't take him. Ludwig has refused to let him leave the house since he tried that a couple days ago." I groaned, this was going to be one very tiring trip.

"I guess he could come too." I couldn't deny that one guy the right to meet Gilbert, and I would be lonely in America. "Remember though, once we fix the shell, everyone is going home." Francis frowned.

"Whatever you say, Arthur. You are so boring. You know that you want to have Alfred show you around and hit all the sights. Don't lie to yourself, it does bad things." I rolled my eyes back and resumed my packing. Footsteps echoed through the halls of my home as the Frenchman skipped out, presumably to give Gilbert the news. I picked up the pace with hope to finish before I was jumped on my and overexcited Prussian. It was to no prevail though because my favorite Amrican finally woke up and we went to texting.

**From: Alfred**

**hey X3 i just woke up wanna chat?**

**From: Arthur**

**That sounds like a good idea to me. How did you sleep after I woke you up. **

**From: Alfred**

**it waz nice i talked 2 romanche sum more told him bout veneciano or watev and he spazzed he waz excited plus i had this dream u said u would go 2 the US of A**

**From: Arthur**

**Actually, I did say that. That was how we were going to put the shell together. Does it bother you or something? We could find another way to do it.**

**From: Alfred**

**maan that is epic i thought tht it was a dream i was like disappointed and stuff when r u leaving 2 git here im off 2morrow + the next day n i can git u from the airport**

**From: Arthur**

**I should be getting there tommorow afternoon, if that is alright and no trouble. I will probably also have two people with me. Your brother has a fan club.**

Soon after I sent that, a blur ran through my house, and standing in front of me was an excited Gilbert. It was a horrible fate. Many times when Gilbert was this excited he broke out the hugs. Even if he was smaller than his brother, a hug could be deadly. I wasn't ready to die. I still had to meet Alfred.

"Are we really going?" His voice was even more jumpy than usual. I smirked a bit and nodded, getting ready for the hug of death. "Yes! This is so awesome!" He was beginning to pounce when he suddenly stopped and cursed. "Dumb bird, why did you do that? It was totally unawesome." He was holding his ear where supposedly his bird had bitten him. It made that weird chirping noise and he nodded. "You're right" he said while running out the door "by, Arthur." My front door slammed closed upon his exit. I got less excited about the people I was taking this trip with every second.

**From: Alfred**

**kool man im not telling matt though he'll be so excited tht will make me like the best big brother in the world XD**

**From: Arthur**

**Good deal. I have to go now, I'm packing right now. I will have to talk to you later.**

**From: Alfred**

**alrite ttyl c ya soon like in real life im so excited **

I went back to my packing, putting in one article of clothing at a time. I was beginning to get jumpy to get to see Alfred. I would get to know what he looked like and hold him -wait what was I thinking? Whatever it was, I needed to stop. During my packing, I came across something that I hadn't seen for a long time. Mixed in with my clothes was my stuffed bunny from when I was a kid. I had named him Flying Mint Bunny based on his coloring and the small wings sewn into his back. I held onto him and leaned back on my bed.

That was the position that I fell asleep in. Soon, I was back in the field of yellow flowers. The bright sky glowed and hung above me, not a cloud in sight. A small voice brought me out of my sorroundings.

"Did you find my friend? Did you find Romance? After we talked, you just vanished. I was worried that you wouldn't come back." The small boy looked shaken up. I walked to him and held him, running my hand up his back in comforting circles.

"I think I know where he is. You will get to be with him again soon." Veneciano's eyes lit up. Almost immediatly I regretted telling him. What if I was wrong? What if I couldn't put the shell together? I was never good at magic. I would disappoint both boys. It would be horrible, and they would have to remain apart forever. If that happened I don't know what I would do.

Veneciano hugged me. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, I knew you could do it. Soon I'll be able to see him again. I will get to be with Romanche. You will be able to bring us together again. Veneciano put his faith in me. Here in this field of flowers, another person had put faith in me. He trusted me. I couldn't let him down. Some part of me, deep down, wondered if how I felt right now was how a hero felt when they helped someone. The rest of me knew that it was. That may have been why Alfred had claimed to always be the hero.

I was brought away from the flowers and cheery things by the frog. When I opened my eyes we were at the airport in Francis' car. I was sitting on my suitcase. Gilbert was next to me wiggling and fidgeting madly. I couldn't help but feel the same rush as him though. I was going to see Alfred. I would get to stand beside him. My mind didn't even filter out the thoughts that involved holding him and never letting go. Alfred was so bright and cheery. He lit up my dismal world. The idea of getting to actually see him was making me nervous. What if I wasn't what he imagined? What if he hated me?

Upon arriving I saw him. It had to be him. He had seafoam eyes that shined and sparkled. I was right in thinking that he was taller than me too. His hair was wheat and neatly combed down except for one little stickup piece. He was wearing a shirt reading Who Is Your Hero and a bomber jacket. In his hands was a sign that said. "Hey Arthur" with a poorly drawn British flag. I had found my Alfred, the one I had talked to for so long.

TbC

**AN: Again I am really sorry for this being so late and so short. If anyone was wondering why Arthur slept so long it is because when they go to that other world inside the shell, they enter a trance and time goes slower inside the shell. He was really only sleeping for a few hours.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I am not dead. I meant to have this up last Sunday, but I was being a dumbass and I left my notebook with this chapter in it at school. This week I didn't get to do much with it because I was angry with this dumb chapter. I had a nice long one all ready and I was gonna type it up, but I'm such a freakin smartypants that I left my notebook at school AGAIN! I could have sworn I grabbed it too damnit. I didn't want to make anyone wait anymore though so Im gonna try and type it from memory. Sorry. I will probably fix it later. **

Alfred's POV

I woke up early today, surprised that I got any sleep at all. I was going to get to meet Arthur today, like for real meet him. I could barely contain myself. I had to though if I was going to surprise Matt. He was up already, so I didn't have any time to compose myself. I walked into the kitchen to see Matt ready for school and cooking. Pancakes. Delicious.

"You're up early on your day off, Alfred. Pancakes?" I nodded and he handed me a plate of maple syrup goodness, which I devoured. "What are you going to do here all by yourself?" Crud! He was onto me already. I could handle this though. Play it cool Alfred. Play it cool.

"I had a surprise planned out for us. That means no getting in trouble at school, alright." Matthew rolled his eyes and pulled up a pinky. I met it with my own and we shook on it before continuing to indulge in the goodness that was our pancakes. Matt finished his and glanced up at the clock.

"I have to go, Alfred. See you after school." He grabbed his books and walked out the door, waving on his way.

"Bye Matt." Once I knew that Matthew was gone, I got to work. I started out in the kitchen, cleaning off the plates we just used and wiping off the counter. I swept and mopped the floor before moving on to our bedroom. It was a lot of work, but eventually I had it clean enough. I could see the carpet, which was actually red, not blue like I had previously believed.

Deeming the house clean enough, I headed out for the next part of my plan. I had to rent a car. The airport wasn't far, but the plane ride was probably tiring and I doubted anyone would want to walk home after that. I already had money saved up anyway. I had planned to take Matt on a drive to the countryside. I figure he would like this a whole lot more. Actually getting the car was easy. There was practically no one there, so I didn't have to wait. I ended up with a big 5 seater that had a trunk. On the way back to the apartment, I picked up some posterboard and a few colors of paint.

Upon arriving home, I emptied out the bag of supplies. I started on the signs for Mattie to hold, writing Francis on one and Gilbert on the other in big bubble letters. I took my time painting them in lots of colors and then I drew some bears that looked like Kumajiro on them. Then, I made Arthur's. I drew a great big British flag on them for the background. That dried quickly and I wrote Arthur in black. I was beginning to get really excited about this.

Finally, all my work was done. I even had about a half hour to spare. Most of the time I spent too excited to think, or do anything for that matter. When it was time to get Matt, I literally skipped to the rented car, posters in hand, and drove off quickly. I met Matthew about half a block away from the school. When he saw me in the car, his eyes widened.

"We're going driving!" The excitement in his voice was obvious. I watched as he hopped into the front seat. "Where are we going?" He bounced with anticipation. I shook my head and he sunk back into the seat. He remained in that position for the whole rest of the trip. Upon hitting our destination though, he sat up straight. "The airport? Alfred, what are we doing here?"

Both of us got out of the car and I ran to the trunk and pulled out the signs. When he read the names written down, I'm pretty sure that he died and went to heaven. "Are they- are they really coming? They are, aren't they? Maple! Was this the surprise? Come on, lets go inside!" I handed him his signs and we made our journey inside the airport. The plane that they were riding on had just arrived, and they should be able to see us soon.

Mattie was visibly excited and hopping around, scanning the area for anyone. He had been waiting to meet those guys just as long as I had wanted to meet Arthur. Though he would deny it if you were to ask him. I was glad that they were there for him. Before now, the only person he could depend on was me. It was screwing with his head.

People were filtering out from the area there plane was residing. Soon, we would be able to see our friends from across the sea. When we did, they were easy to point out. There were three of them, just like Arthur had said. "Matt that is them." I said pointing at the strange threesome. "It has to be." Matt's eyes lit up as they traced my arm up to who I was pointing at. I briefly glanced at a pale guy grinning and gesturing to himself and a blond haired guy that looked like a pervert. Somehow I knew that neither of them were Arthur though.

Arthur had to be the one in the middle. He was scowling and seemed overall unhappy. His hair was cropped and messy. Eyes were green, true green. They sparkled, even from faraway. Soon they met my own looking down at the sign in my hand he nodded up to both of his friends and pointed at us. The pale guy with- were those red eyes- looked up and sprinted towards Matt, tackling him in a hug. Arthur and the other guy just lagged behind him walking.

"Birdie?" Matt grinned and nodded.

"Gilbert!" I watched as they huggd again and jumped up and down. It was like a scene from one of those movies that I didn't watch (Read: watch all the time) because I'm the hero. Either way I was distracted by a hand being thrust at me.

"Are you Alfred?" I grabbed his hand and shook it, sure not to miss the fact that his scowl became a smile, a small one but still.

"The one and only. You must be Arthur." He nodded. I was kind of sad that we didn't get to do all the jumpy huggy stuff that Matt got to do. I guess that it just isn't Arthur's kind of thing. I was distracted from my small depression by Matt speaking more of that gibberish followed by that other guy responding. He must have been that frog guy... um Francis. That was it! He didn't look like a frog though.

"Shut up Frog. No one wants to hear that cruddy language. Speak english." Artie was mean, but it seemed like friendly teasing to me. They must have known each other for a long time. I looked down at Arthur to try and start another conversation when...

"Holy crap Artie! What are those? Hold still Artie I think there are some catepillars on your face! I'll get them off because I'm the hero!" Both of his friends started laughing out of control. Gilbert even fell on the floor. Arthur was bright red. He was covering up the catepillars with his hands.

"They are not bugs!" His voice was quiet like I had hurt his feelings. I couldn't have done that though, because I was the hero. "Those are my eyebrows, you git." I get it now. He might have been offended when I told him that his eyebrows looked like creepy bugs. Now that I thought about it, it did seem a little mean, but come on they were HUGE!

Matt walked right over to me and pulled on my marvelous nantucket. "Ow. Matt, that was mean." He didn't let go, and he gave me that scary look that only little brothers could give. "Mattie, let go, that hurts." His evil brother look only deepened. He tilted his head at Arthur. Oh I get it now. "I'm sorry, Artie. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. A hero would never do something like that on purpose." After saying that, my hair was set free from the death grip of scolding. I rubbed the newly sore spot on my scalp a bit. Artie nodded and called me more names that I don't know the meaning of.

Matt spoke up now. "Lets get out of this airport. Another plane just landed, and this place is about to get crowded." His words were followed by nods of agreement from all of us. The journey to the car made us feel like old friends. We talked and bickered, teasing each other all the way. Conversation bounced from choice of pets to cooking skills and which language was the best. Artie said that American wasn't a language though which made me kind of upset.

I drove the car with Artie in shotgun. Matt was in between Gilbert and Francis, in the backseat. I kept thinking about our seating arrangements. We were one bed short, so one would have to host two people. I was thinking Matt could share a bed with someone, because I really did not want to sleep on the floor. Everyone was being really noisy, keeping me from any productive thought, so I just kept driving. I couldn't multitask that well anyway and an accident would be bad.

When we got to the place, everyone scrambled. The car was empty before I even had a chance to realize what was going on. Arthur was walking in circles in the parkinglot, while Gilbert and Francis were playing a game of tugawar using Mattie as the rope. That probably should have worried me a little more than it did. I ushered everyone into the house that seemed a little too small now. I had never thought that before, but with three extra people standing in it, I was beginning to. Matthew was gaping at the cleaning job I had done earlier.

"You are never getting out of cleaning again, Al. How did you even do all this?" His eyes were wide. Beside him, Gilbert laughed. Nothing seemed funny about this. He didn't seem like a guy to laugh just for the fun of it either. Matt punched him in the arm.

"Ow. What was that for?" At Matt's pointed look he changed his tune. "It just reminded me of a talk I once had with my little brother a while ago. He is a clean freak, so I helped him out once and did such an awesome job he thought he could tell the awesome me to clean all time. That was unawesome of him, so I made a point to not clean until he threatened to kill me." Matt punched him in the arm again, playfully this time though.

"I feel sorry for your brother sometimes. The rest of the time I just like to think of how alike our lives are. I got a good venting buddy out of this." I took this as my cue to hug my brother before he went on pancake strike. Just the thought was enough to give me chills.

Now it was time for the hard part. I had to figure out sleeping arrangements and have people agree to my plans. As if reading my mind Matthew asked the dreaded question. "Hey, Alfred, where is everybody going to sleep?" I took a deep breath. This was going to be difficult.

"I pulled out the air mattress for someone and I was kind of hoping that two people could share a bed, otherwise someone would have to sleep on the couch." My voice was really quiet at the end of that phrase. I didn't tell them that the couch was where I planned to sleep, because I didn't want to force them into sharing. I would be alright on the floor for a week or so anyway.

I left the realm of my thoughts exploring life on the cold floor and saw something that I did not expect. People were fighting about who got to share the bed. Francis was poking Arthur with malicious intent, who responded with more insults that made no sense. I swear it was like he was making stuff up in his head. Gilbert was holding onto my brother who was redder than the leaf on his dumb flag. I heard Francis say my name and laugh, the sound was followed by a yelp and punch in the face from Arthur. Whatever he said must have been pretty bad.

The sleeping arrangements were decided. Arthur and Francis would switch between my bed and the air mattress and Gilbert and Matt would share Matt's bed. "Where are you going to sleep?" Arthur had asked before I had even said that I was taking the couch. There was no getting out of it now.

"I'm gonna sleep on the couch." I poited at the piece of furniture for extra emphasis. There was a deep scowl on Artie's face.

"No you will not. It is too small, and you will end up hurting yourself. We'll share." I couldn't help but feel excited. Arthur had just shown that he cared about how I felt. He was worried about me. That or he really wanted to share a bed with me. If it was the second reason, I could easily say that the feeling was mutual.

"Alright." It wasn't too hard to act surprised because I was. I really hadn't expected Arthur to say no to me, and I certainly hadn't expected him to say that we would share. I was starting to get slightly worried though. After we fixed the shell, what were we going to do? I was feeling too attatched to Arthur to just say goodbye. I could only imagine how Matt would feel. Even though I am the hero I really don't know what to do this time.

**An: Done. I worked extra hard because it is like 5 days late. Sorry about that. Anyway I tried for lots of action and made it super long. Hopefully you liked it. Please review.**


	7. Chapter 7

Arthur's POV

The words rushed out. I didn't mean to say that. Who was I kidding? I wanted to share a bed with Alfred ever since he mentioned it. I just hadn't meant to be rude about it. Alfred probably thought that I was some creep now. I didn't want that. I wanted him to like me, like I liked him We had only officially known each other for about a day, but talking over the shell I had grown to like Alfred, and was afraid to admit it, but I think that I might more than like him.

I heard something clatter behind me and turned to see pans on the floor and Gilbert hugging a surprised Matthew. "Do you guys want anything to eat?" Matthew squeaked out, visibly trying to ignore the Gilbert stuck onto his back. "I can make something, if you want." Him mentioning food reminded me that I hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon and was rather famished. Apparently everyone else felt the same way, if all the head nods were anything to go by. Matt picked up a pan from the place on the floor they had been knocked to and began mixing something up. He poured it in the pan in small circles and eventually flipped them. About 20 minutes later, there was a HUGE heap of the circles sitting there.

All while Matthew was doing this, Alfred was grinning. He looked like a kid that just got a puppy. When the plating was getting done, Alfred reached into the cupboard and pulled out a bottle holding it like some kind of sacred item. He opened it and poured it all over the plates of circles, then handed a plate to each and every one of us.

"You, my friends have just received the wonderful delicacy that is pancakes. They are Matt's specialty." So these were the legendary pancakes that I had heard so much about. The way he had spoken about them, they had to be delicious. I waited as both Gilbert and Francis took a tentative bite and seemed to enjoy it. I tried it and it was amazing. It was plain but really good. I ate the rest, though in a slightly more gentlemanly manner than some of my companions. *cough* Gilbert and Alfred *cough*

"Those were awesome! Like they were really almost as awesome as me!" Gilbert had said it. It had been in a really rude manner, but he was right. Francis nodded and proceeded in saying something that I ignored, because I didn't want to listen to him. The dumb frog could get annoying, especially when he was right.

"What did you think, Artie?" Alfred had asked me what I thought. It had been an innocent question. Why did he have to make that face when he asked it though? He looked childish and pleading. What I didn't understand was why. My answer couldn't mean that much. Still though, he was wearing a puppy dog face.

"Those were delicious." Alfred laughed.

"Dude, I knew you would say that. When you ate them your face lit up. Mattie sure is a good cook, right. We practically live off those." So it wasn't a pleading look. Alfred was trying not to laugh. He was working so hard at it that his eyes watered up and sparkled. And here I thought that he just really wanted me to like what he liked.

"I'm sort of tired. Can we turn out for the night and continue this in the morning?" I was beginning to feel heavy on my feet. I could seriously pass out at any given moment. With my statement an extra wave of fatigue ran over me and I was only standing because of something bracing my sides. Whatever was holding me led me to the bedroom, and I quickly got comfortable. The last thing I remember before the flowers of Veneciano's world was Gilbert telling Matthew that he wasn't tired and wouldn't be unless Matt would let himself be used like a teddy bear.

I was back inside the shell. The flowers had grown tall, and many reached up to my knees. I heard laughter behind me and turned to meet Veneciano. He ran up and hugged me, small arms reaching around my waist.

"Arthur! I missed you. Are you working hard to find Romanche? I can't wait to see him again! I know that you'll be able to get us together again." It was nice to see that he still had faith in me. The inspiration that he was giving me was sure to make me more powerful in the magical arts.

"You will no doubt be with Romanche soon. My friend is even keeping him company, so you don't have to worry about him being alone." I smiled at you Veneciano, picking him up and placing him on my shoulders. I scanned the area seeing the bright flowers and blue sky. "Soon, you and Romanche will stand together under this blue sky. Just imagine it." Veneciano giggled from atop my shoulders.

"I can't wait. Promise that you will hurry Arthur. I really miss him!" I placed Veneciano down and handed him a flower.

"I promise, on this flower, that you will be together again with your Romanche very soon. Promises made on things as pretty as that flower can never be broken. Its magic." His eyes widened.

"Really?" I nodded. Then, I watched as he went to play in the tall flowers. He looked so peaceful. Despite what I just promised though, new doubts had arisen on my mind. Fixing the shell would mean saying goodbye to Alfred, and I didn't think I was strong enough to do that. The thought scared me. What if I couldn't handle life without him. I know that it was strange and I had only known him for a little while, but life was hard to picture without his hero complex and extreme fear of horror movies. I was worried.

I left the dream world of flowers and awoke in the middle of the night. An arm was wrapped around me and caused an immediate freak out. Alfred woke up, and I remembered the situation. We were sharing a bed because I wanted to sleep with him**-**I mean I was worried about him hurting himself sleeping on the couch. "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up." I really was. He seemed to be sleeping well and I also wanted to keep his arm around me. It was warm.

"Its all right. Sometimes that happens. Do you need anything, like water or something?" He was sweet even when he sounded so sleepy. I declined his offer anyway. How could I burden him when I had so rudely woken him up? "Alright then." He shifted and I listened as his breathing became even until I knew that he was, without a doubt, asleep. Then I leaned against him, feeling his warmth and loving every bit of it. Alfred made for a comfy pillow.

The next time I woke up, it was morning and Alfred was already out of bed. He was wearing a shirt with a big cat on it. I guessed it was his uniform shirt for work. "I didn't mean to wake you up, Artie, but I have to go to work. Matt is already at school, so it is just you three. He will be home about a quarter till three, and I'll be back this evening. See ya tonight. Bye." I watched Alfred as he ran out the door and down the hall. I heard the front door slam shut and knew he was gone. This was going to be a long day waiting for him.

Gilbert and the frog were still asleep. While I waited for them to wake up, I decided to investigate the shell, and see what I could do. I gathered up both pieces trying to find where they lined up. Once I had a good idea, I tried to fit them together like a puzzle piece. It didn't work. Nothing was ever that easy. I would have to try some kind of charm to get them together. When I tried it was like putting two magnets together while they were facing the wrong way.

"Yo, Arthur. Do you need some help from the awesome me?"

I shook my head. "There is some kind of force keeping them apart. It won't do any good."

"Or maybe the unawesome you is just not strong enough to put them together." He grabbed both parts from my hands and tried the same thing I just did. It didn't work. "Its like magnets. I used to do this all the time with Ludwig. If we both take a piece we can force it together."

"That might not be-" It didn't matter. A part of the shell was already in my hands with the other one getting closer. There was no opposing force though. That is, until the shell was only about 1 inch apart. We were both flung back and a green light was emitting from the shells. When the light went away, there were still two parts of the same seashell. there was something odd though, with the dots. They were rearranged.

Gilbert got to them first and began reading aloud the words that the dots made. "parts... forever bound... together... one... found. Arthur, that doesn't make any sense." I made my way over to see the gaping holes in the writing. Whoever made this wanted us to try more than once. I decided to write down what was there in case it disappeared later. "I'll wake up Francis. He might be able to help."

"Don't. He won't do us any good. Elizabeta isn't here for someone else to push with. It says pairs. By us trying to put them together, we crossed the pairs made by the shell. Think about it." His eyes got a bit of a spark.

"So you're saying that you and Alfred make the first shell pair, and me and Matt make the second one. That means if those guys try to put it together, we'll get the rest of the riddle." I nodded.

"That's right. Its the rest of the riddle that I don't understand. I think it is saying the shell will be forever bound together once we fix it, but I can't figure out anything else."

He nodded. "The shell won't fall apart again if we this and do it right. Also I think something is lost and that's what made it fall apart in the first place, so when we find it, the lost thing will be like glue" That was really inciteful. Maybe Gilbert wasn't as dumb as I always thought he was. "Or you could just fill awesome into all the blanks, and it would describe me." Maybe not.

"Before that awesome thing, I thought you were really onto something. How did you get so good at riddles?"

He laughed, the signature 'kesesesese' ringing through the room. "The awesome me is good at everything. I had plenty of practice though. Lud thought that riddles were the coolest thing in the world for a while, when he was younger. After about 50 a day for 2 or so years, you get pretty good at the things."

"Fifty a day. That sounds like an exaggeration." His eyes widened and he shook his head. "Maybe not then." The day proceeded on and we talked about his brother and the simalaraties between his and Alfred's position. Before long Matt was home.

Gilbert hugged (tackled) him on sight. "Matt! How was school? I'm glad you're here! I missed you, awesomely of course." Matthew awkwardly patted the bigger man until he let go and backed away. Then he saw the beginning bruise on the smaller boy's face. "How did that happen?" He was now in protective Gil mode. Good luck to any that crossed his path.

"What, this? Its nothing. Some guys at school just needed something to take out their anger on. It doesn't hurt that bad. They have been leaving me alone more ever since Al beat them up."

"Well they are about to start leaving you alone for good." I knew that voice. Francis knew it better though. He hopped up and tried to calm him down. It was no use. There was only one person in the world who could calm him down now and he was in Europe. He went out the door, leading Matthew by the hand.

Francis and I could only sit and wait and have faith that Matt could stop him before he went on a killing streak. Hopefully there were two people in the world who could calm protective Gil down, and Matthew was one of them. Our chances weren't looking good. After about an hour of waiting they came back. Gil had a scratch on his cheek and a forming black eye. The other guys must be half dead if they had a chance to hit him twice. Maybe there were like 20 of them or something. Matt was fretting over him. He ran to get some ice and handed it to Gilbert.

"Hey, Gil." Matt's voice was quiet and kind of strained.

"Yeah, Birdie?"

"Promise me that you won't do that again. You have to promise." His eyes were pleading, but Gilbert shook his head.

"I can't promise you that. When you said some guys beat you up, I lost control. If I promise you that, and you get beat up again, it will be a broken promise. The awesome me takes his promises very seriously." There he goes again, ruining a deep speech with that obsession with awesome. I swear he is addicted to that word or something.

We didn't have to wait long before Alfred was home. He took one look at Matt and proceeded to freak out. "Matt, what happened? Was it the same guys as before? I will take them down. I need to go beat some kids to a pulp! Who is coming with me?" Matt chuckled a bit and Gilbert let out a long laugh.

"The awesome me beat you to it dude, and believe me, they won't mess with Matt anytime soon. They were expecting you and kind of hid, but then they got all this awesome and they were down." Alfred slowly nodded.

"Alright man. Just know that if you ever protect Matt without inviting me in on it, you will have a real fight on your hands. We can be dual protectors. Our name can be the hero and the awesome. It would be so cool." They both laughed.

"You got it man! Matt is double safe now!" Mentioned person left the room and began cooking something. It was probably supper. He wasn't joined by anyone in the kitchen. When I tried to supply him with company, I was begged to stay away from the food. I ignored the insult to my cooking and simply sat back down.

Over dinner, we explained our discoveries of the shell to Alfred and Matthew. Alfred supplied some new meaning to the riddle, as well. "What if the thing that has to be found is one of the kids. They have been looking for each other for a long time. They might be what was holding the shell together. I think they are also why the shell is connected when it is broken." He had some good thoughts. We were getting closer to fixing the shell, and... closer to goodbye.

**AN: I actually like this chapter for once. Arthur is hard to write so tell me if I am really OOC or something. There is lots of fluffy PRUCAN in here too. I love it. Also I think that France needs a lot more face time but it is not in the story. *sigh*. This only has 1 or 2 chapters left. Please review.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Alfred's POV**

Work sucked today. It was Friday night, and people decided that it was time to crowd my workplace. Saying we were busy was a tiny understatement. Not a one of us got a break today. The only thing that kept me going through all of that was the thought of seeing everyone together.

The walk home didn't help my mood. It only succeeded in building my anxiety. A bunch of punks ran past me, yelling a bunch of crap. I think that they were the same guys that had beaten up Mattie before. Never would they do that again. If they did, they would seriously regret it. All I wanted was to be home and see everyone.

Getting home didn't exactly have the desired effect either. I opened the door to see Matt with a bruised face, pouting next to a Gilbert who looked like he'd faced off against one too many. They both seemed pretty upset. That was beside the point though, Matt had a bruise on his face, and I was going to have to kill someone! Saying that point aloud got me a loud laugh and an explanation that I had arrived a little late for that. I got left out of the beating fest. Despite my knowledge of gaining a new partner I was still rather ticked off.

At least we had burgers for supper. I love those things. While we ate, Arthur and Gilbert spoke about words that formed on the shell and a bright green light. The puzzle talked about being bound forever. All I could think about though were the kids. Both of them were lost and trying to find each other. It seems like a pretty serious bind to me. Everyone else agreed with the new point that I brought up. Arthur even said that it was a good idea.

After we ate the fun part began. We got to try new ways to solve the mystery. Those two got their words to show up by forcing the shell together, so we crossed the pairs the other way. It was time for me and Matt to try. We each picked up one piece and pushed. No matter what though, it wouldn't even get close to touching. We got knocked back, but nothing happened. No green light, no new words, nothing.

"Are you sure that this is what you tried?" Matthew asked. He was right. Why would it work for them and not us? Clearly neither of them knew the answer to that either. Arthur loooked despaired beyond belief. His mouth hung slightly open. What bothered me was his eyes. The shine that had been there since we met was gone. He looked more that a little disappointed.

"Yes" His voice matched the sadness that his face showed. "That is the exact same thing that we did. The only difference was we crossed the pairs the other way." This was disappointing, but I still don't understand why Arthur wouldd be this upset. "It just doesn't make sense."

"Or maybe it makes perfect sense." Francis joined in the conversation. He really seemed to be spouting nonsense though.

"What is that supposed to mean, Frog?" Arthur went from mopey to irritated in just a second. It was amazing the effect that those two had on eachother.

"I mean" He started up. "that maybe the shell doesn't want the same exact thing. You already tried splitting the pairs and got some words, so maybe to get the other ones you have to try using a pair that was actually created by the shell." That was a good idea. How did he come up with something like that?

"Oh! The awesome me gets it. Matt and I are going first, because we are more awesome than you guys!" I stepped aside to stand with Artie as they each grabbed a part of the shell and positioned themselves. "Ready, Birdie?" Matt nodded. "Alright then. 3...2...1!

The shell went together and sparkled, whilst Matthew and Gilbert flew to opposite sides of the room. We watched in awe as the shell almost made its way completely together. whole room glowed a bright green light, and we could see words forming right in front of our eyes. the both of them made the way to the shells. "You should do the honors, Birdie."

Matt scanned the words, reading everything aloud. "Two pairs... and be forever bound... get together... lost one to be found." The whole thing made a lot more sense now. The new things we had though proved some of our theories wrong.

"What could that mean?" Arthur appeared to be deep in thought. He dept reading the parts to himself over and over again.

"Why are you trying to figure out what that little piece means if you can easily get the rest of it? That seems like a waste of time to me." I had a point. Why would you have to solve half the riddle when you can have the whole thing to work with? All you could get from doing that are wrong answers and misleading hopes.

"Magic doesn't work like that. Skipping steps only ends badly." He seemed dead serious.

"Whatever you say, Artie, but I still don't see why that is a step. Talking about what the words mean won't change anything. Last time all we came up with was a bunch of answers that were proven wrong just now." He glanced up meeting my eyes.

"We'll try it your way. For once, you might not be completely oblivious." He handed me a part of the shell and took his own. "Lets do this. Veneciano and Romanche are depending on us."

It took everything we had to force the parts together. then, it clicked. The parts joined. The pieces weren't meant to become one yet. We were still missing a part of the puzzle. I felt myself becoming lightheaded.

When I came back to my senses, I was lying on my back in a field of flowers. A red headed boy in a dress was standing over me. "You aren't Arthur. Who are you supposed to be? This kid had to be Romanche's friend. Maybe that also meant that Artie was talking to Romanche right now.

"I am the hero! Alfred F. Jones at your service." He smiled as I said that.

"You're funny." The kid was laughing from his position over me. "My name is Veneciano." He reached out his hand to help me up. Then, his face became serious. "You wouldn't happen to know Romanche, would you? I have been looking for him for a long time." I was right.

"I know Romanche. He is looking for you too. I was helping him to find you, and now we just have to find him. I have a feeling that Arthur is there as well." I watched as his eyes and grin widened.

"You mean it? We have to find them!" He hugged my legs, and I felt like a real hero. There wasn't much left to solve.

"Hey, Alfred, Arthur, can you guys hear us? If you can, then give us a sign somehow. You got sucked into the shell when it got put together." that was Matthew. How could he talk to us if we were in the shell? Also, he said it was put together so we should bbe able to walk to Arthur and Romanche.

Veneciano looked just as surprised to hear Matt as I was. His mouth hung halfway to the ground. His eyes were really wide too. It was like he just saw a gost. I can't gurantee that I was looking much better though.

"Matt, is that you?" I f he couldn't hear me, then he wasn't ever going to be able to. If nothing else, Artie would hear me and know where to find us. "Can you hear me?

"Loud and clear, Al." I could hear the grin in his voice. "Do you know where Arthur is? I think you have to come out of there together."

"I dont have a clue." By this point Veneciano was completely befuddled. I wasn't much better off. "What gave you that idea anyway? Is the rest of the puzzle thing there now?"

"You bet. Matt and my awesome self think we have it figured out too." That was Gilbert. No one else used the word awesome like that.

"Well, what does it say?" Maybe we could figure something out. "And did you find anything out from Arthur yet?" I couldn't help but wonder. I couldn't find him or hear him, and this place was a lot different from where I found Romanche. He could be far away.

"Of course we have been in contact with Arthur. We've been keeping an ear out for the both of you. From what we know, you two are pretty close. Awesome, huh." It actuall was. "Oh yeah. The riddle thing says 'Two pairs must get together and be forever bound for them to get together, for the lost one to be found.' That's pretty crazy if you ask me."

With what Gilbert said, Veneciano's eyes lit up. "A guy said that to me and romanche once. It was right before we were seperated. I know where we have to go right now." He took my hand and started leading me away. "Romanche will know where to go too. I'll see him soon!"

I was lead to a really cool flower patch. The sun was setting and it made the plants look all sparkly. There was a big tree that had deep purple flowers on it too. We sat and waited in the tall flowers for a while. Then, we saw them. Arthur and Romanche made their way up to us. The meeting was magical.

**AN: That was really late. I am sorry for that, and I'm not going to waste your time with excuses. Anyway I kinda like how this turned out. The next chapter is the end. Please Review.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Final Chapter**

**3rd Person POV**

The two smaller boys were talking nonstop for a while, since they had reunited. Upon seeing each other, Romanche had gripped onto Veneciano and held tight.

"I was worried that I wouldn't get to see you anymore. I searched for you everyday." Romanche spoke from his heart. The feelings he had were obvious, though he had tried to hide them before. The affections were no longer masked.

"Oh Romanche. I missed you a lot too!" By this point Veneciano was crying. The droplets that streamed down his face represented no sorrow. He had found his eternal friend, the other part to his pair.

However, the others with them weren't sharing their feelings so openly. They hadn't had as much time to get used to each other yet. After staring at eachh other awkwardly for a while, the self proclaimed hero gained enough courage to speak up. "Well, Artie... I kind of... what I mean to... you are" his voice faded as he spoke before coming up again, "I'm the hero, and I will always come to save you." Alfred was strangely awkward. It was way different from his usual outspoken self.

"I'm not in need of saving, git, and my name is Arthur." By this point Arthur was red in the face. It was pretty obvious that he shared the feelings Alfred harbored. Said man looked rather dejected.

"That isn't really what I meant. I don't think that you are in need of saving all the time. I guess that I mean... I want to always be there for you. When you are in trouble, I want to be the one that you go to for help. I want for us to be together in at least that way." Arthur let his mouth gape wide open. That was the first time someone had said that they wanted to be by his side. Alfred had said not only that, but that he wanted to protect him. The scarlet that painted his face showed his shock and all of the good feelings he got from the proclamation.

"What if," Arthur cleared his throat and began again, "What if I told you that I want more than that? I don't just want to be someone that you save from trouble." He paused. What if Alfred didn't accept his feelings? No, either way he had to try. "I want to be the person that you spend your time with. I want you, Alfred." Now it was Alfred's time to be awed. He had been scared to say those very words that Artie just blurted out.

"I knew your superpower was reading minds, Artie!" But he was too much of an idiot to say something even remotely romantic in return.

"My name is Arthur, you twit!"

"Sorry. Artie is a lot better though. It sounds more heroic!" For a moment, Arthur looked appalled, before he regained his composure.

"That, my friend, is why I am a gentleman, and you are merely a hero." He sounded smug, but it was totally playful. The tone proved that they could joke around, proved they were close. Both realized this and moved in slightly closer. They were just barely apart now, and could feel the warm breath of the other.

"What?" An obnoxious screech made them both realize what was going on and back away. Both were redfaced and more than slightly annoyed at the sudden interruption.

"What is it?" Arthur called out, his voice sounding more annoyed than he had planned for. If they sounded that freaked out, there had to be a reason, right?

"Well um..." Matthew was talking now, having pushed the freaked out Gilbert away. "in order to get out of there, you have to," he stopped.

"What is it, Mattie? We can't be stuck in here forever! Just say it!" Alfred's loud voice came as an encouragement. It couldn't be that bad. Could it?

"You two have to kiss to get out of there." Well that was predictable. The two who were about to kiss before they were interrupted turned red again. The first almost kiss had been an accident. Now they had to do it again. This time would be harder. Lucky for them, they had help.

Romanche and Veneciano looked to each other and nodded. Veneciano took Arthur by the hand, guiding the poor, shocked man towards Alfred, who was also being dragged along. When they reached each other, more help was provided. Romanche guided Alfred's hands until they were wrapped around Arthur's waist. Then, he proceeded to give Veneciano a boost to place Arthur's hands at the nape of Alfred's neck.

They were given all the help that they could possibly need. Slowly, they moved in. Their lips brushed for a second before going in for more. It was soft and sweet. Light swirled around them in the flower patch, making a beautiful scene even more so. Eventually they broke apart and looked into the eyes of the man that meant the world to them. There was no denying it; they belonged together.

**X.x**

Alfred and Arthur were lucky. They had help. All Gilbert and Matthew had was Francis watching them again with popcorn and a video camera. They had to be brave enough to make a move. As of now, neither had done anything.

Gilbert kept moving and going back quickly. He had kissed other people before, but none that he actually liked. Matthew, however, was completely frozen staring somewhere over Gil's shoulder. That wouldn't do though. Someone had to be brave. Someone had to kiss the other.

Alfred and Arthur got back to the real world just in time to see Matthew jumping Gilbert. They almost fell because of the force. Luckily, Gil recovered his balance before they did. Like with the other two, this kiss was real, with true meaning behind it.

"What will you do now?" Francis brought up a good point. They couldn't exactly go back now that they had so much. The thought that had been plaguing the back of their minds for a while now had to be addressed. It was a negative topic.

"We could move someplace around here, the four of us. Then we would be near each other all the time." Arthur spoke aloud the idea that they all wished for.

"I can't. There is no way I can leave my brother. Ludwig needs me." Gilbert shot himself out of that plan unhappily. Somehow though, Matthew looked a lot more upset.

Alfred upon seeing this did the brotherly thing. "You should go with him." That caused both Gilbert and Matt to happily look at each other.

"But I"

"But nothing, Matt. It doesn't take a genius to realize that you don't like it here and you got a lot happier when you met him." Matt gripped his brother in a tight hug, thanking him. He let go of his embrace and ran over to Gilbert.

He turned back again. "Won't you be lonely without me here?" He looked guilty and upset.

"Nah. We'll see each other soon, and I still have my Artie." He threw an arm over the smaller man for extra effect.

"My name is Arthur and I am not yours! I will be here for him. You don't have to worry about this idiot."

Two days later, they were at the airport again. This time was different though. Two brothers were being seperated, yet there was no sadness in the atmospere. Both had found someone just as important. (and Francis had two rolls of video tape that would make Elizabeta VERY happy.)

They met by chance, through a broken shell and two lonely kids. Mysteries were solved and love was found. They had their flaws, but that was what made them fit together so well. So with the brothers hugging one more time, they split ways, hand in hand. Deep down inside the shell, two little boys were hand in hand as well.

**The End**

**AN: I can't believe this is the end already. If you read this far, I send you a huge thank you. The thank you is way bigger if you reviewed or story alerted or anything else. I think the end is a little corny, but oh well. Until next time. BYEE-BEE**


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